


Küzdőtér

by ragdollrory



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragdollrory/pseuds/ragdollrory
Summary: Lotor watches the fight before him with a knot in his stomach. The sound of swords clashing together, that will usually come with the thrill of a good battle, is something he doesn’t favor right at this moment. Whereas he would ask for a friendly spar on any given day, and fight it with an inch of his life- adrenaline pumping through his body like a drug- today he’s nervous. Scared, even.
Relationships: Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28
Collections: Lotor Week 2020





	Küzdőtér

**Author's Note:**

> Written last night between midnight and 3 am, so if it makes sense it's solely due to [Hiro](https://twitter.com/bioplast_hero)'s Beta'ing. Thank you, love, you always make me look good.

Lotor watches the fight before him with a knot in his stomach. The sound of swords clashing together, that will usually come with the thrill of a good battle, is something he doesn’t favor right at this moment. Whereas he would ask for a friendly spar on any given day, and fight it with an inch of his life- adrenaline pumping through his body like a drug- today he’s nervous. Scared, even.

It certainly says something that Allura has to reach out to him from her place at his side, and place a calming hand on his shoulder every couple of doboshes. His body keeps tensing with every lunge that comes even remotely close to hitting its aim, nevermind that it ultimately doesn’t.

There’s a series of parrying movements beneath them in the arena, two quick sets of feet jumping out of the way, and going back at it with the same intensity he shows in his own combats. And for that he’s proud. He can’t help his chest puffing with it, nor his eyes moving across the battleground to find Takashi’s. There’s pride in his eyes as well. Next to the Captain of the Atlas, the Leader of the Blades keeps his eyes focused on the fight.

A clattering noise calls Lotor’s attention to it as well, and he feels his spine tensing as the sparring turns into a grappling combat. He can feel Allura’s eyes on him before her hand is once again on his arm.

“You do know this is just for fun, don’t you?” She asks, her voice sweet and worried over him. Lotor turns in time to catch her soft and amused smile, her sparkling eyes checking for any indication on his part to make it stop. He won’t give any.

Instead, Lotor looks away with a nod, of course he knows. His hands ball into anxious fists on his lap just the same.

And it’s not as if he didn’t know this day would eventually come, no. Their son had shown nothing but excitement in all things revolving around training since he’d learnt how to walk, and could hold anything resembling a sword in his hands. Lotor himself had spent several phoebs training him. 

It’s more like he thought he’d have more time to grow accustomed to the idea, perhaps. Or that he thought he wouldn’t mind-  _ he wouldn’t be so worried _ \- about a friendly spar between Seren and the paladins’ kid. Without noticing, his gaze moves to the couple in front of them on its own, assessing.

Keith looks the part of an excited father, his eyes almost glowing with it, and his hands making little movements here and there accompanying those of his son. Takashi looks calm, though. Leaning back on the chair with arms crossed over his chest, and a gentle smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Lotor’s anxiety-ridden brain can’t comprehend how the man does it, taking his past in a similar place all those years ago. A voice that sounds exactly like Allura’s reminds him of the time the Captain spent working on those issues. It also nags at him for not taking more time to do so himself.

He shakes his head, and his wife makes an inquisitive noise at his side. Now it’s Lotor’s turn to place a hand on hers, and give an appreciative squeeze. He truly doesn’t know what he would’ve done without her by his side. Ruling the Galra would’ve been torture, for one, but he also wouldn’t have had the precious gift of their son. Nor the second one on the way. With his eyes back on the boys in the arena, he takes a hand to rest on Allura’s belly, and is rewarded with a faint kick. It looks like this one too has the fighting spirit in their blood. 

He’ll see if he’ll allow such a thing after today’s event. He can already feel the way his nerves have been frayed by worry, and the inability to just step between the boys and stop this whole thing at once.

He won’t, of course. Mostly because he won’t ever hear the end of the teasing by the Black Paladins, not to mention his wife. But also because he’s always been a prideful man, and his son, even in his young age, is one too. Whatever little Galra heritage he’s passed along to their sweet Altean-looking boy, it certainly includes the desire to prove himself. To better himself, and all those around him.

It came to no one’s surprise, of course, that when Keith and Takashi came walking into the palace three years ago with a scrawny looking Galra, and presented him like their own, Seren took instantly to him. And where Shoya had been a shy boy around most of them at first, he and Seren hit it off instantly. Their first ever game together had been a race around the throne room.

The place had never seen such a thing before, Allura’s hand finding Lotor’s with discretion when she sensed him softening. From then on, the boys competed in anything they could, both of them worthy sons to their parents, and Lotor added Shoya to the list of people he would behead someone for.

A sudden cry from the arena pulls Lotor from his musings, eyes widening and whole body leaning towards the fighting grounds. He can feel his heart in his throat. Shoya has Seren in a hold in the middle of the room, and Seren is trying his hardest to get himself out of it. It’s nothing too grave, much as the soft thing behind his ribs insists on grabbing his boy in his arms and taking him away. Lotor wills himself to composure.

Across the room, Keith’s smirk towards him is very telling on the magnitude of his reaction over something so measly. The paladins are now bursting with pride over their winning son, and Lotor could claim that Shoya is slightly bigger than Seren, if that didn’t make him look like a sore loser. Especially because his son has defeated bigger kids in training before. No, the Shirogane kid is good, Lotor can admit as much.

Seren gets up then, drawing Lotor’s gaze back to the scene between the two couples. The kids circle themselves in a way that they’ve clearly learnt from their parents. It makes Lotor smile, and Allura chuckle next to him. Maybe in the future, after he’s grown accustomed to this recent development, he can trade easy comments with his wife. About how Seren throws his punches just like her, or the way Shoya and Keith have the same crouching stance before an attack. Always making themselves smaller to evade with ease.

He knows he’ll be able to enjoy this eventually, he’s positive about it. But today, after a long day of meetings and irritable ambassadors trying to get his favor, the sight of his little boy fighting against the Shirogane kid- well, it’s not doing Lotor’s heart any good.

And then there’s a cry.

“Oh, no!” Allura stands next to him, her lovely face painted with worry. Lotor watches everything as if it’s in slow motion.

She moves the little fence surrounding the training mats aside, and walks to the middle, hands lifting her dress skirt with practiced delicacy. From the other side, Takashi’s mimicking her movements, while Keith simply jumps over the thing. It’s a small, flimsy thing. Lotor would tear it apart with his bare hands if that wouldn’t cause an undignified scene, and he wasn’t too busy being stuck to the chair.

By the time he reaches the middle of the playpen, Allura has Seren cradled in her arms, soft cooing noises falling easily from her lips, and making Lotor fall in love with her all over again. There’s nothing quite like being married to a woman that can tear you into pieces, and is also the gentlest creature in the whole universe. Watching her around children has always made him all the more vulnerable.

“What happened?” He hears his own voice ask with just the faintest tremor to it. At his side, Keith snickers, and Takashi shushes him a sharp elbow to his ribs.

“Nothing happened, isn’t that right, Seren?” Allura’s answer is more to reassure their boy than him. Their son nods, sniffling back his tears. Lotor sees Allura’s hand on his leg glowing for just one tick, and when she lifts it, there’s a tear on Seren’s pants, where he can imagine there was a scraped knee not a moment ago.

“I’m sorry, Seren.” Shoya says from where he’s hidden between his parents. His ears are pressed back against his skull with worry, and maybe even fear. It tugs at Lotor’s heartstrings, and he reaches out to pat the boy’s head.

“That’s okay, Shoya, these things happen.” He reassures, Takashi’s hand squeezing down on the boy’s shoulder, while Keith keeps him tucked to his hip. “Remember last movement, when I sparred with your dad? I had a bit more than a scraped knee to account for afterwards.”

“You were limping, if I’m not mistaken.” Comes Keith’s tease. Lotor lets it slide in favor of Shoya’s laughter. There’s little, if anything, he wouldn’t do for these kids.

“Okay then,” luckily Allura cuts off their bantering over their training sessions by standing up with Seren clutching his hand. “I think this first attempt at sparring has come to an end, and you two boys are due for a nap.”

Groans of complaint fill the playroom, and not all of them come from the boys. Lotor does not groan, but his shoulders might drop a little.

“Now, come on, you’re definitely tired,” she chides, and is gracious enough not to slap the other three adults in the room upside their heads. “Plus, I think I saw some hot cocoa in the kitchens, that Hunk said only the bravest boys could have.”

That does the trick, of course, and whatever damper the end of play had put on the kids’ mood is instantly lifted. Stars, Lotor loves that woman. Shoya asks his parents if he can go, and hurries to grab Allura’s free hand, but then Seren walks up to him. Or more like drags his little feet.

“Dad,” he tugs at Lotor’s suit, and he’s kneeling at his side in an instant. “I lost. Do I still get cocoa?” His boy whispers at his ear, sadness so palpable Lotor could cry. Every set of eyes are on Lotor, and he swallows audibly.

“You know, losing does not mean you weren’t brave, Seren.” He doesn’t know where he gets the strength to answer in a way that doesn’t have him spilling his heart’s contents in a little kids’ playpen. “In fact, losing, and learning from it, makes you very, very brave. Understood?”

Seren nods, still not quite believing his words perhaps, if the furrow of his adorable lavender eyebrows is of any indication. But it will do for now. Lotor will make sure his boy believes it with time, and teach him all the many ways in which he’s worth so much more than the results of a spar.

“Alright,” Allura’s cheerful voice calls their son back to her side once again, and Lotor stands to watch the three- the four- of them go. “You boys behave until I’m back. No shenanigans!”

“ _ Yes, your highness! _ ” The paladins answer in a singsong voice that will surely get them in trouble later. He just watches the pieces that make his heart a whole thing walk away, chatting in hushes.

“So,” Keith is the first to break the silence, as he often is. “Who’s against who in the first round?”

“Keith,” Takashi shakes his head with a laugh, but the gray eyes on his husband tell Lotor that the man will agree to anything Keith proposes.

“What? I’m just saying- there’s a mat right here, we have some time to kill until ‘llura gets back…” He shrugs, and Lotor could probably find it in himself to say no, but the man’s got a point.

“I think we can make it all against all,” he offers with a smirk, already shedding the heavy padding of his armor, much to Takashi’s dismay. “That is, unless you two decide to team up against me. _ Again. _ ”

“Isn’t a kids’ playpen a little tight for the three of us, though?” The Captain tries to reason as any good boy like him should, even when everyone in the room knows just how dirty he can play.

“All the better. Where’s your sense of adventure, Shiro?” Keith taunts, Lotor and him already walking circles around one another. Little circles.

“Yeah, where’s your sense of adventure,  _ Takashi? _ ” He adds his own teasing to it.

“We’re so not getting cocoa after this,” The Captain’s shoulders drop, but he’s already folding his jacket neatly over the back of a chair.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments feed me, long, short, keyboard smashes, emojis, your choice!
> 
> Come chat with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ragdollrory).


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